Nutrition and signaling in slave markets: a new look at a puzzle within the antebellum puzzle

Abstract

Between 1800 and 1860, mean adult stature of (U.S.) white males declined by nearly an inch, while real output grew substantially, creating the “Antebellum Puzzle.” In contrast, male slaves did not experience a comparable decrease in heights. To explain this puzzle within a puzzle, we show that the benefit of the marginal nutrient exceeded the cost throughout the antebellum era. As a result, it paid for slave owners to engage in the supplemental feeding of slaves, which increased their stature. While this is consistent with a productivity explanation of increased stature, we also argue that informational asymmetries played an important role in the market for slaves. Slave owners had an incentive to signal that their slaves were high-productivity laborers by supplying them with additional food, which positively impacted slave heights. We provide evidence that, distinct from a productivity explanation, signaling mattered in the trend of slave heights.

Bodenhorn H (2010) Manumission in nineteenth century Virginia. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper #15704

Bodenhorn H, Price G (2009) Crime and body weight in the nineteenth century: was there a relationship between brawn, employment opportunities and crime?” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper #15099

Sunder M, Woitek U (2005) Boom, bust, and the human body: further evidence on the relationship between height and business cycles. Econ Human Biol 3(3):450–466CrossRef

Tadman M (1989) Speculators and slaves: masters, traders, and slaves in the old south. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison

US Bureau of the Census (1975) Historical statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial edn. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

US Work Projects Administration (1941) Slave narratives: a folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves, North Carolina Narratives, Part 1. Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Wahl JB (1996) The Jurisprudence of American Slave Sales. J Econ History 56(1):143–169CrossRef